Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) held its first plenary session on Wednesday (Sept 2) since the release of messages exchanged between banker Daniel Vorcaro and a number attributed to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. None of the ten justices present mentioned the crisis, according to CNN Brasil. Moraes and Justice André Mendonça, the rapporteur in the Banco Master case, shared the bench without speaking to each other.
The seating was not a choice. As CNN Brasil explains, seats on the bench follow seniority, measured by the date each justice joined the court. Chief Justice Edson Fachin sits at the center, and the others alternate to his right and left, from the most senior to the most recent. Moraes joined in 2017; Mendonça in 2021. Under the current makeup, the rule places them side by side.
A routine session
The session ran on routine business. Fachin opened the proceedings normally and gave priority to cases with oral arguments, CNN Brasil reports. The agenda included, according to news site g1, the proclamation of the ruling on the constitutionality of the Funrural, a social security contribution charged to individual rural employers on their gross farm revenue. The justices debated the reach of the ruling, took a break and ended the day without addressing the crisis. Earlier, Fachin had described the moment as one of "special gravity" and said that "appropriate" measures would be announced in the coming days, according to CNN Brasil.
An unresolved standoff
The silence on the bench contrasts with the fight behind the scenes. On Monday (Aug 31), Moraes and Mendonça had a conversation that CNN sources described as "direct, hard and brusque", after the rapporteur said he would send the Federal Police report with references to his colleague to the federal prosecutors' office, the PGR. On Tuesday, Mendonça lifted the secrecy on the material. The published excerpts include messages in which Vorcaro writes that he owes Moraes the "gratitude of my life" and asks, days before his arrest, whether he should leave the country. According to g1, the Federal Police says the banker offered the justice million-dollar contracts, luxury experiences and a trip to London, and records eight meetings between the two men.
The court is now split on how to respond. According to Folha de S.Paulo, Fachin has been advised to let the temperature drop and not to schedule immediately the decision that could open a formal investigation of Moraes or nullify Mendonça's acts. The newspaper counts only one certain vote for the rapporteur, Justice Luiz Fux. Against Mendonça's methods, Folha reports, are Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Gilmar Mendes. Justices Kassio Nunes Marques, Cármen Lúcia and Fachin himself are listed as undecided. A senior court adviser told Folha that Moraes would not take part in any vote because he is directly implicated, and that Dias Toffoli has already declared himself barred from Master-related cases.
The next move belongs to Fachin. He promised to announce measures in the coming days, and the full court will have to decide the fate of the Federal Police report and of the rapporteur's acts. Neither Moraes nor Mendonça spoke to the press about the case after the session, according to CNN Brasil.